Malaysian Airlines MH370: Objects Spotted In The Search Area

Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 is still missing as search efforts enter the third week; however, some positive news on the search is believed to have come from China this morning. A Chinese air force aircraft is believed to have spotted possible debris from the lost Malaysian Airlines flight in the southern part of the Indian Ocean off the Australian coast.

Debris spread over a large area

Early reports hint that the Chinese air force’s IL 76 aircraft spotted two big objects and many small ones floating in a remote part of the Indian Ocean. As reported, the debris is spread over several kilometers.

Today a report from the Xinhua news agency said, “The crew has reported the coordinates–95.1113 degrees east longitude and 42.5453 south altitude–to the Australian command center, as well as the Chinese icebreaker Xuelong, which is en route to the sea area.”

The Chinese search operation lasted for about an hour and scanned an area 400 km long and 30 km wide. The area scanned was around the area where the earlier satellite images spotted suspicious objects.

Hopes of tracing Malaysian Airline flight ignited

On Saturday and Sunday, China and France search teams spotted objects which might be of the missing Malaysian Airlines plane in the southern part of the Indian Ocean through satellite imagery. The recent spottings are in line with the previous lead provided by Australia and have raised the possibility of finally locating the missing Malaysian Airlines flight.

In a recent update to the search for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight, an Australian plane spotted two additional objects, possibly of the missing flight MH370, in the southern Indian Ocean search area. The discovery by the Australian team is in addition to the Chinese debris sightings earlier today.

A statement from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) said “a grey or green circular object and an orange rectangular object” have been located.

The latest satellite images from China could throw some light on the location of the Malaysian Airlines flight, which has been missing since March 8 with 239 people on board. Since the disappearances, more than two dozen countries and a fleet of ships and aircraft have been making an effort to locate the missing aircraft. Initially, the search began in the South China Sea but moved to other regions later, including the vast Indian Ocean and even parts of the Bay of Bengal.